for that, but we were structured where it didn’t take us out … We’re both cau- tious to a fault. The last thing you’d want to do is overextend yourself just for the sake of growth.” “It goes back to families,” Erin


offered. And Hugh continued, “That affects


people. When someone comes to hire on with us, I feel obligated to them to fulfill my end of it, which is to provide enough work for them that they can support their family. If I have to bring them in after six months and say, ‘I gotta let you go,’ that doesn’t do any of us any good.”


SEEN IT ALL The witty Ray Cole, 66 years old


and the company’s longest active driver, will keep a listener in stitches when he’s quizzed about his experiences with the McConnells through the years. “I always say I’ve been around so


long I’m like the furniture,” he said. “They did get rid of a couch the other day, so I’m getting nervous.” Of Hugh, Cole said, “I’m the broth-


er he never wanted.” Cole bought his first truck when he was 25 and drove his own truck for McConnell up until last year, when the company provided him one of theirs. “The new ones are priced so high.


Hugh said, ‘I got you a brand new truck. Now when you break down, all you gotta do is call me.’ And I said, ‘That’s what I do anyway.’ “You just couldn’t ask for better


people. “One reason people stay with


McConnell, we are home most every night,” Cole said. He considered Ed McConnell like an older brother “even though he wasn’t much older than me” — “It liked to have killed me when he died,” Cole said — while he watched Hugh III grow up around the shop and teach himself to drive a truck. “We’ve got good equipment, good


trucks. I think we have five new trucks coming in,” he said. “We have some of the best equipment going. Hugh is a for- ward thinker. We make a decent living.


ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 5 2014


“SHE BROUGHT IN A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THINGS. WE’D ALWAYS DONE THINGS THE WAY


WE’D DONE THEM IN THE PAST. HER COMING FROM WHERE SHE HAD WORKED, SHE BROUGHT OTHER IDEAS, AND THAT WAS INTERESTING.”


—HUGH McCONNELL “We just have a good crew, we


always stay busy, always seem to have work. Now, we have two weeks’ vaca- tion and holiday pay and a 401(k) that they put money into. We didn’t used to have those. Don’t get me wrong, Ed was good, but [Hugh] made it even better. We make a bit more money. Trucking has changed a lot in the past 10 years.” Cole recalls the days when Ed


McConnell and his longtime dispatcher, Ronnie Pitts, ran things. “Ed and Ronnie asked me once what I thought I was worth. I said, ‘You couldn’t


afford it.’ They said, ‘That’s what we thought.’” Cole was happy the day Erin joined


the McConnell family. “I went to the wedding in


Magnolia, sure did,” he drawled. “Hugh didn’t let me kiss the bride, though. I don’t know what the problem is. I need to ask him about that.” When he’s serious, Cole adds, “The


McConnells are my friends, not just who I work for … They always found


 31


At home with the McConnells


FAvoRite FAMilyMeAl: tacos. “the boys love tacos, all the time,” says erin. “Gus wants hot dogs, but we won’t do that all the time.” Meanwhile, Hugh says, “i’ll eat anything.”


FAvoRite spoRt FoR tHe boys: “All of them. Football, basketball, baseball, soccer,” erin said. “We may have a wrestler this year; Gus is interested, and he’s pretty good at it.” Hugh adds, “Having two older brothers has helped him.”


suMMeR vACAtions: “We love to go to the beach and do nothing,” erin said. “We fish, sit on the beach and play. this year we went to Dauphin island [Ala.].” Hugh said, “they’re just boys, we do boys stuff.”


otHeR Hobbies: “As a family we love to duck hunt, deer hunt, turkey hunt – well, i don’t, but they do,” erin said. Hugh adds, “We had a family duck hunt this year. We like that. they can talk and fidget, and it’s something we can all do together.”


WHAt Do you Do FoR A Couple’s GetAWAy? “We really try at least once a quarter to get away, have a date, but it doesn’t always happen,” erin said. “Hugh and i love several restaurants in town; brave new Restaurant, i love brave new, and we love going and staying at the Capital [Hotel]. Hugh added, “And bruno’s. i went there as a kid, i watched them throw pizzas on old Forge, and that’s where we went on our first date, at the bruno’s on bowman Curve.”


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